Motorcycles: Driving Instruction

Justine Greening:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many moped riders aged (a) 16, (b) 17, (c) 18, (d) 19 and (e) 20 years old took compulsory basic training in (i) England, (ii) the London Borough of Wandsworth and (iii) London in each of the last five years. [281369]

Paul Clark:
The Driving Standards Agency does not hold records on how many individual moped riders took a compulsory basic training course in the manner requested.

Motorcycles: Licensing

Justine Greening:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what percentage of (a) 16, (b) 17, (c) 18, (d) 19 and (e) 20 year-olds resident in (i) the London Borough of Wandsworth, (ii) London and (iii) England hold a provisional moped licence. [281370]

Paul Clark:
The following table provides the total number of provisional moped licence holders by age and location. The percentage against total residents in these areas is not available to the Department for Transport:

Wandsworth

Age

England

London

SW15

SW18

SW19

16

56,791

3,554

19

29

32

17

315,346

17,801

195

179

264

18

267,336

22,332

217

224

288

19

229,826

23,571

208

207

271

20

211,974

23,351

213

207

250

Motorways

Mr. Greg Knight:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if the Secretary of State will make it his policy to ensure that traffic information on motorway closures is given out to motorists at the earliest opportunity via (a) radio broadcasts and (b) digital road information signs; and if he will make a statement. [281740]

Chris Mole:
It is already our clear policy to do so. The Highways Agency aims to inform customers as quickly as possible about traffic conditions and incidents on the motorway and trunk road network, using many channels. Information is provided directly to the media through dedicated services such as the Highways Agencys websiteTraffic Englandwhich carries comprehensive and up-to-date information, and the agency now operates its own DAB radio serviceTraffic Radiogiving continuously updated news and information about the network. The agency also aims to keep the messages on its roadside variable message signs as accurate, reliable and helpful to the travelling public as possible.

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Railways: East Midlands

Stephen Hammond:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether the premium payments announced in respect of the East Midlands rail franchise awarded to Stagecoach in June 2007 were based on an assumption that unregulated fares would rise by on average of RPI plus 3.4 per cent. [281138]

Chris Mole [holding answer 18 June 2009]:As indicated when the East Midlands franchise was awarded in June 2007, the planning assumption made in the Stagecoach bid was that unregulated fares would increase, on average, by retail prices index plus 3.4 per cent. per annum.

The levels of unregulated fares are a commercial matter for individual train operators. For business planning purposes, operators may make assumptions of any projected changes to unregulated fares, but this is a matter for the operator concerned.

Railways: Electrification

Jeremy Corbyn:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what funding his Department is planning to provide for the electrification of the Barking to Gospel Oak rail line; and if he will make a statement. [281471]

Chris Mole [holding answer 22 June 2009]: In January 2009 the Department for Transport made an offer to contribute a capital sum towards the cost of the electrification of the Gospel Oak to Barking line conditional on Transport for London (TfL) taking forward the project, including working up a business case, finding the balance of the cost and bearing all risks.

The Department's contribution could be up to £25 million, the amount depending on as yet undefined savings against the budget for the North London Line Camden Road freight scheme announced last year.

TfL has now indicated that there is now little likelihood that it could undertake to fund and bear the risks of the electrification scheme.

Railways: Finance

Bob Spink:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much capital funding the Government has allocated to the rail network in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [281850]

Chris Mole:
The information is not available in the form requested. A breakdown of annual expenditure by mode and region is available in the Department for Transports annual report and details of total historic expenditure are available in National Rail Trends which is published by the Office of Rail Regulation. Copies of these documents are available in the Libraries of the House.

Railways: Hearing Impaired

Mr. David Anderson:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps his Department has taken to make railway stations accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [281698]

23 Jun 2009 : Column 770W

Chris Mole:
Since 2006 around £12.4 million has been offered from the Access for All Small Schemes Fund for projects at stations benefiting deaf and hard of hearing people. These have included induction loops at 317 stations, new customer information systems at 146 stations, improved signage at 198 stations, help points at 404 stations and information boards and screens at 39 stations.

Mr. David Anderson:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps his Department has taken to encourage rail franchisees to make services accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people in the last five years. [281699]

Chris Mole:
All rail franchisees are required to have a Disabled Persons' Protection Policy, which sets out how they will assist disabled passengers to use their services. This includes commitments that all on-train and station passenger information systems will give both aural and visual information where possible, including ad hoc announcements about service delays. In addition, pre-booked assistance lines are required to have a minicom or textphone number available.

Any new or upgraded infrastructure at stations must comply with "Accessible Train and Station Design for Disabled people: A Code of Practice", which includes the provision of proper signage and induction loops. All customer facing staff are also required to receive disability awareness training which includes how to assist deaf or hard of hearing passengers.

Since 1998, all new trains have been required to meet modern accessibility standards, which rail franchisees also use as the appropriate standard when undertaking major refurbishment work to older vehicles. Almost 5000 new trains now meet the standards, which include requirements for audio and visual passenger information systems, and door controls that are illuminated when they are operable. Last year, the Government set 1 January 2020 as the date by which time the entire national rail fleet must be accessible.

The winner of the new South Central franchise has also committed to monitor the success of its assisted passengers reservation system, which enables customers to book staff assistance before travelling.

Roads: Accidents

Mr. Ellwood:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many road traffic accidents took place where colour blindness was stated as contributing to the cause of the accident in the last 12 months. [280907]

Paul Clark:
The information requested is not available. The police officers do not record colour blindness as a contributory factor to an accident.

Roads: Hampshire

Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal road traffic accidents were recorded on roads in (a) Southampton and (b) Test Valley borough in each of the last five years. [281383]

23 Jun 2009 : Column 771W

Paul Clark:
The number of (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal reported personal injury road accidents recorded on roads in (a) Southampton and (b) the Test Valley borough in each of the last five years is given in the following table:

Number of accidents

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Southampton

Fatal

6

2

4

4

5

Non-fatal

832

824

727

697

699

Test Valley borough

Fatal

12

7

10

6

8

Non-fatal

410

364

301

345

373

The 2008 statistics will be available on 25 June 2009.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Mrs. Villiers:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the capital budget of the Highways Agency for (a) maintenance and (b) enhancement work was in each of the last five years. [280376]

Chris Mole:
Capital budgets for enhancing the trunk road network including capital maintenance for each of the last five years are set out in the following table:

£ million

(a) Maintenance capital budget

(b) Capital budget (excluding maintenance)

2004-05

24

540

2005-06

39

717

2006-07

31

1,093

2007-08

30

1,030

2008-09

108

1,156

Capital funds are used for delivering additions and improvements to the road network, and enhancements to the technology assets associated with the network.

The capital maintenance budgets shown above are primarily for renewals of technology equipment on the strategic road network.

In 2008-09, as part of the 2007 comprehensive spending review, the capital maintenance budget included an assumption for roads and structures renewals that could be undertaken as part of a Major Scheme improvement. Prior to 2008-09, this would have been classified as resource expenditure. This explains the increase in the indicative budget when compared to previous years.

Shipping: Pollution

Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what measures his Department plans to implement in respect of (a) carbon dioxide emissions and (b) other pollution from shipping in the next two years. [280086]

Paul Clark:
In the next two years the Department for Transport's focus will be on ensuring that the agreement at the Copenhagen conference in December 2009 incorporates an international commitment to address carbon dioxide emissions from the shipping sector, and on working in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to deliver international measures to regulate 23 Jun 2009 : Column 772W
ship energy efficiency and to achieve agreement on an economic instrument which will achieve reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from shipping.

Turning to other pollutants, we plan to implement the revisions to the international regime governing air pollution from ships which were adopted at the IMO in 2008, and to implement measures to address the management of ships' ballast water.

Tractors

Mr. Paice:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many tractor registrations there were in each year since 1997. [281262]

Paul Clark:
The number of agricultural tractors newly registered in Great Britain in each year since 2001 were as follows: